Lagos, Aug. 20, 2023: The Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), on Saturday appealed to President Bola Tinubu to give female engineers an opportunity to fix the nation\u2019s moribund refineries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Newly-elected APWEN Lagos Chapter Chairman, Mrs Atinuke Owolabi, made the call during the association\u2019s public lecture and Annual General Meeting in Ikeja.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Owolabi assured that female engineers spread across the various arms of the profession could fix the refineries within a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll women engineers are ready to come together and see how we can proffer solutions, making sure that we revamp these refineries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo, we call on our president to challenge female engineers to revamp and rehabilitate these refineries, and I want to assure you that, within a year, just challenge us, we will make sure that the refineries would be put to operation by the grace of God,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said any nation aspiring for development must empower its indigenous engineers and manpower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is imperative that our homegrown engineers are empowered and granted the right opportunity to showcase our competence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said women had inbuilt natural qualities of being good managers and being excellent, adding that their talents should also be explored in building roads and other critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Owolabi said Nigeria should reduce reliance on foreign experts and give opportunity to local engineers who are equally or more competent than their imported counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI want to also implore our leaders, especially our president and governors, to empower indigenous engineers because we are very good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA country without engineers cannot develop,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Owolabi, a Fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, promised that her administration would focus on mentorship and skill development for young engineers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also pledged collaboration with other NGOs while reeling out planned development programmes for three Lagos communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTogether, we shall shatter barriers and triumph over challenges in reaffirmation of the fact that gender should never constrain one\u2019s potential in any domain,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The guest speaker, Mrs Olayinka Abdul, speaking on the theme, \u201cThe Role of Female Engineers in Building Sustainable Infrastructure\u201d, said rising fuel prices required urgent measures for green alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abdul, a former APWEN President, said green buildings reduce wastes, conserve energy and ensure huge energy savings and enormous long-term benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said Lagos was investing heavily in renewable energy while listing completed and ongoing interventions in various sectors, including health, education, housing and transportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abdul said the various options available were wasting because some Nigerians have a class mentality not allowing them embrace local researches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She cited examples of viable technologies, developed by \u201cour forefathers\u201d, being ignored because people want to move with trending foreign technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abdul advised APWEN to adopt communities and train them on how to generate power from their wastes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also enumerated measures female engineers could adopt against work place discrimination and how to receive mentorship from male counterparts without bruising their ego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Panelists at the event proffered solutions to the multifaceted problem of inadequate water supply in Lagos State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They enumerated ways mentorship and advocacy could grow capacity of female engineers.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lagos, Aug. 20, 2023: The Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), on Saturday appealed to President Bola Tinubu to give female engineers an opportunity to fix the nation\u2019s moribund refineries. Newly-elected APWEN Lagos Chapter Chairman, Mrs Atinuke Owolabi, made the call during the association\u2019s public lecture and Annual General Meeting in Ikeja. Owolabi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[949,908],"tags":[360],"class_list":["post-52354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-oil-gas","tag-refineries","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"\n